The Mourinho Thread

[Jase 43,479]

The ivanovic attacking weakness is just part of the problem, another problem is:

For 3 years now our left wing is our most active part of our attack combinations. Lampard, ashely cole and hazard/malouda/anelka were more attacking than the other side. Mourinho is now totally changing to the other flank and telling our former attacking flank to defend. Its going to take a very long time for us to adapt because that is a massive change.

The second problem is his constant changing of the starting 11. Only terry, hazard and ramires are sure starters. That is outrageous considering we are in november, he just has to stick to one 11 till they get things right.

If you are looking at the bigger picture, then yes. I'm inclined to agree with you but just examining the current situation as it is, we would be better of just switching Azpi and Ivanovic's fullback position since Mourinho is so insistent on sticking with the latter all the time.

[TrippingStep 336]

its simple: we indeed did get what we wanted. mou is a simple counter-attacking coach. get used to it, that if we win this games, we'll win them through individual class and not by game patterns or moves or learned attacking schemes. the team has absolutely no clue how to attack, when we have the ball and the opponent is sitting deep. every chelsea fan in this freaking board was knowing that we lacked a creative DM, who can acutally build-up a play but Jose who was satisfied with his options- his fault.

Mou is and probably never will be a coach for the long-term idea. he was talking alot of stuff, like getting in young players etc, changing the game. I cant see ANYTHING of it. just bla bla from Mou. futhermore, thanks to him, Hazard is playing s#it, Mata is playing s#it. so, not only we play as bad as under Benitez, but futhermore two of our best players look destroyed by Mourinho- especially Mata. hopefully we will be able to turn this around or otherwise, we should be happy with a Top 4 spot. we've been laughing at United with Moyes, but if they win tommorow, they'll be 1 point behind us. and that without a good midfield nor a great defense, nor a great coach. thats kinda embarassing.

Mou should stop talking and start acting. you talk so much about meritocracy, well, then actually go by it. why is Ivanovic playing as a RB? why is Lampard playing? why is Oscar playing atm? So many questions. And I am afraid of the future. the pressure is immense. everybody thinks Mou will turn us into beasts...in fact, he hasnt got a clue what or how he wants us to play as it seems.

I agree with you but with Benitez, we were seeing clear patterns in the build up and attacks, at least I had an idea of what we were trying to do to hurt the opposite defences while this year, I and the players seems to have no idea what they are doing in possession.

Last year, I've seen many attacking moves that were clearly prepared during the training session, that looked like basketball system, with blocks, triangle plays, runs to draw defenders, there was a purpose in what they were doing.

Except a few games, even in some of our draws in defeats, we created many more clear chances than on the matches we have played this year.

Until now, what is happening is what I had fears when Mourinho was announced as our coach, we don't have the deep midfielders and powerful players in front for his tactic and the premier league teams are much better than before defending deep.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

If you are looking at the bigger picture, then yes. I'm inclined to agree with you but just examining the current situation as it is, we would be better of just switching Azpi and Ivanovic's fullback position since Mourinho is so insistent on sticking with the latter all the time.

What I was looking at is not just the bigger picture, but the immediate solution. Even if he switches azpi there, it will be better, but it won't improve by much. Teams can easily figure out its the same pattern and sit deep, leading to almost the same situation.

The only way to effectively increase our chances is to allow the left back to join the attack.

If he doesn't do this, then we might as well start our matches with 3-5-2 since that's the only time we attack like a big team.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

If you are looking at the bigger picture, then yes. I'm inclined to agree with you but just examining the current situation as it is, we would be better of just switching Azpi and Ivanovic's fullback position since Mourinho is so insistent on sticking with the latter all the time.

What I was looking at is not just the bigger picture, but the immediate solution. Even if he switches azpi there, it will be better, but it won't improve by much. Teams can easily figure out its the same pattern and sit deep, leading to almost the same situation.

The only way to effectively increase our chances is to allow the left back to join the attack.

If he doesn't do this, then we might as well start our matches with 3-5-2 since that's the only time we attack like a big team.

[Jase 43,479]

What I was looking at is not just the bigger picture, but the immediate solution. Even if he switches azpi there, it will be better, but it won't improve by much. Teams can easily figure out its the same pattern and sit deep, leading to almost the same situation.

The only way to effectively increase our chances is to allow the left back to join the attack.

If he doesn't do this, then we might as well start our matches with 3-5-2 since that's the only time we attack like a big team.

But the problem is Mourinho is either reluctant or just doesn't want to do like what you said. Hence why I was looking at the scope in terms of what he's doing now only.

And about the constant changes to the starting XI, not sure you can really blame him for that when we have such a large squad with at least 2 players for each position. He is bound to be rotating them to keep the team fresh and players happy as well.

[bushman 2,043]

All I read here, switch him, play him there, everywhere.

Currently, the so called Jose´s project is useless. We all can see it.

The team, was extremely lucky in the past several games.

Jose´s experiments are in vain. Mata was punished, Luiz too. Both are sitting around. Bertrand, Essien, KDB are not getting chances to play. Today, I read Jose is willing to sell Luiz. Whether, it´s true or not, I do not know. However, how much longer is Roman going to bankroll this team, but...?

[yuvala 2,167]

All I read here, switch him, play him there, everywhere.

Currently, the so called Jose´s project is useless. We all can see it.

The team, was extremely lucky in the past several games.

Jose´s experiments are in vain. Mata was punished, Luiz too. Both are sitting around. Bertrand, Essien, KDB are not getting chances to play. Today, I read Jose is willing to sell Luiz. Whether, it´s true or not, I do not know. However, how much longer is Roman going to bankroll this team, but...?

Well it is a PROJECT, not a 3 month job..

It will take a lot of time to build something great around here.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I had two big concerns about Mourinho being appointed.

1) Fans attributed too much of our earlier success to him rather than the massive spending that Roman brought with him (we were outspending our rivals 10-1) and thought that we could repeat our dominance which is simply not possible now that many teams spend big. (Managers tend to only make a minor difference anyway) so expectations would be out of control.

2) Mourinho is a very good manager but he isn't suited to the players we have. We bought players to build a fluid, attacking system. Suddenly switching to a defensive-minded counter-attacking system didn't make sense with with the players we had. It's still a concern I think;

To be fair, our team is an absolute jumble right now. We have so many different kinds of players who don't really fit together that any system we play will be flawed. Why we spent so much money and still didn't buy a proper central midfielder or any players who provide width will never make sense to me.

[bushman 2,043]

Well it is a PROJECT, not a 3 month job..

It will take a lot of time to build something great around here.

It will take.....how long, 2-3-4-5-6...years ?

[borriske 330]

Not really buying the 'new system takes time'. Including pre-season we've had around 25 games, and attacking wise there has been no sign of any improvement, plan or system and we still haven't a fixed starting eleven. Some here say 'give it time', but at what point do you conclude that problem isn't just players' form but more systemic? Especially when we don't seem to have the players needed to play this type of football.

Further more, mourinho has had a whole transfer window to adress the most obvious problems in our squad - and besides looking for a world class striker, he didn't. No reinforcements in central midfield (!!) or in defence, and by his own words - we didn't need them. Instead, we spent some ridiculous money on Willian (with all due respect to the lad, he's not worse than our other AM options, but also not that much better), and our now playing players out of position in defence.

Maybe I'm wrong - and I hope I am - and in the next weeks we will start to see some solid team-based victories, but until then it does seem Jose has made some glaring mistakes.

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

We need to ship out a few players and bring in others suited to Jose's style or mourinho changes his tactics.

I think Mata, lampard, KDB, Luiz, may all be on their way out in the near future. We will have room for players suited to Mourinho's tactics.

We should play attacking football seeing as we are full of attacking players, majority of teams will park the bus against us in the Prem

[kellzfresh 7,229]

But the problem is Mourinho is either reluctant or just doesn't want to do like what you said. Hence why I was looking at the scope in terms of what he's doing now only.

And about the constant changes to the starting XI, not sure you can really blame him for that when we have such a large squad with at least 2 players for each position. He is bound to be rotating them to keep the team fresh and players happy as well.

God help us if he has to satisfy everybody, bcos the team chemistry we are looking for will never come till 4 attacking players get 4 games in a row. Understanding is very important.

[bushman 2,043]

Several months ago, I read Jose is not suited to coach an offensive team. I wholeheartedly laughed at it. Today, I can see it. He has no clue as to whom to play. There is no dynamism in Chelsea´s final third, apart from Eto´o the poacher´s goals. BA can not score, Torres is still flashy. The defense is in desperate attempts, play the long balls, but no one is capable to utilize those.

The 3 amigos, when on, either Oscar, Mata are not suited to play on the wings.

Even though, I love to see Chelsea winning the EPL this year. Are they really capable ? In my view, I doubt it. So, what´s next ?

A fight for 2nd, 3rd or 4th places ?

[borriske 330]

We need to ship out a few players and bring in others suited to Jose's style or mourinho changes his tactics.

I think Mata, lampard, KDB, Luiz, may all be on their way out in the near future. We will have room for players suited to Mourinho's tactics.

We should play attacking football seeing as we are full of attacking players, majority of teams will park the bus against us in the Prem

Could be risky since over the last couple of years the transfer policy was geared for a more guardiola-type of play (almost literally, since it seems he was the manager we initially wanted). To suddenly change it all around could further unbalance our team (which is admittedly already unbalanced).

[zolayes 14,489]

Several months ago, I read Jose is not suited to coach an offensive team. I wholeheartedly laughed at it. Today, I can see it. He has no clue as to whom to play. There is no dynamism in Chelsea´s final third, apart from Eto´o the poacher´s goals. BA can not score, Torres is still flashy. The defense is in desperate attempts, play the long balls, but no one is capable to utilize those.

The 3 amigos, when on, either Oscar, Mata are not suited to play on the wings.

Even though, I love to see Chelsea winning the EPL this year. Are they really capable ? In my view, I doubt it. So, what´s next ?

A fight for 2nd, 3rd or 4th places ?

if we are chasing the game late on it seems our defenders think we still have Drogba ,,,,